Apple said to be worth more than Poland at a value of US$ 500 billion (USA)
With iPhone maker Apple crossing the US$ 500 billion mark, the industry has been abuzz with news stating that the U.S. giant is now worth more than the entire country of Poland. According to reports, Tim Cook, CEO, Apple said that Apple is the sixth company in history to reach a value of US$ 500 billion.
The comparison arises as the share market value of Apple reached US$ 506 billion while the GDP of Poland was reported to be US$ 497 billion. Reports reveal that the value is expected to be more than Belgium, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan as well.
Cook had told its shareholders at the annual meeting that the company has more money than it needs, and the board and management are thinking very deeply about ways to use the cash.
Industry analysts believe that such a comparison is unfair as the valuation of a company takes into account the combined profits and future cash flows. On the other hand, the GDP of a country refers to the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a year. However, the fact that such a comparison could be thought of highlights the success of Apple and its profitability. Analysts believe that while Apple is a very strong company, it is yet to be seen as to how long it can continue the success run.
Further, the release of the new iPad which will go on sale by March 16 is expected to enhance the earnings of the company.
Telefonica signs network sharing agreement with China Unicom (Spain, China)
Spanish telecom operator Telefonica has reportedly entered into a strategic partnership with China Unicom, wherein both operators will use each other’s networks to expand their coverage. According to reports, the deal will provide Telefonica access to China Unicom’s network in the regions of Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Australia, France and Sweden.
In return, China Unicom can reportedly increase its presence through Telefonica’s network in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, USA, Puerto Rico, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.
Reports suggest that Telefonica believes this agreement will help both operators expand their capabilities to provide telecom services to various customers in different geographic areas.
Polish mobile network provides fastest mobile broadband speeds in the world
The Akamai internet platform carries between 15-30 percent of web traffic that traverses across the world at any given time. The noted average connection speed for mobile providers across the globe, in the first quarter 2011 stood at between somewhat above 6 Mbps to as low as 163 kbps, as per Akamai traffic analysis.
In addition, an unspecified service provider in Poland has been noted to deliver the greatest average mobile connection speed in the first quarter 2011. Previous quarter’s fastest provider hailed from Greece that has been tipped from the top spot to land at number two.
In terms of data consumption, seven percent of the surveyed mobile providers show 1GB data user consumption per month on an average, in the first quarter 2011 based on Akamai’s platform. On the other hand, 73 percent of surveyed providers show users consumed 100 MB of content from Akamai, on an average while users on the remainder providers consumed less than 100 MB.
In the wake of the partnership between Akamai and Ericsson, data collections were contributed by the latter as well. According to Ericsson, there was a 130 percent yearly growth in the first quarter, in terms of overall mobile data traffic, representing more than double the volume of voice traffic.
EU member states served notice to expedite implementation of new telecom regulations
25th May 2011 was the deadline set by the European Parliament and the EU’s Council of Ministers for the member states of the European Commission for full implementation of the new EU telecoms rules as part of their national law. Twenty of the EU member states have been sent information requests as to why they have not yet reverted with regard to the stipulated implementation of the telecoms rules.
Under the EU infringement procedures, the information requests are equivalent to letters of formal notice.
Under the ambit of the new EU telecoms rules, phones, mobile services and internet are taken into account with regard to rights of the consumers and businesses. The highlights of these rights comprise of customers being empowered to switch telecoms operators in just one day without changing their phone number, more transparency regarding the services customers are offered, in addition to securing their personal data online.
So far only seven Member States namely Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Sweden and the UK have confirmed the Commission of full implementation of the rules; a majority of the EU member states having notified the Commission of implementation to certain extents while the legislative processes are continuing.
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain constitute the twenty other Member States that are yet to respond to the letters of formal notice within two months, failing which or even not being convincing, the Commission stands to issue the concerned Member States, a formal request to implement the legislation. The second request will be the form of a ‘reasoned opinion’ under EU infringement procedures. Eventually, the matter will be referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Polish Billionaire to own Polkomtel (Poland)
Poland’s second-largest mobile-phone company will be sold to Polish billionaire Zygmunt Solorz-Zak for $5.5 billion. The deal is said to be a benchmark in the history of acquisitions by a Polish investor. According to sources, the $ 956,029 billion of debt and dividend due to current owners were not included in the telecom deal.
The shareholders of Polkomtel including Vodafone Group PLC signed the deal which initiated the expansion of Solorz- Zak’s media and communication business. Polkomtel has around a client base of 14 million for voice and Internet services. The closest competitors of the company in the telecom market are Deutsche Telekom AG’s Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa and France Telecom SA’s Telekomunikacja Polska SA unit.
According to reports, after the deal, the total worth of Polkomtel as an enterprise came around $5.76489 billion, which is 6.4 times higher than the company’s earnings in 2010. Polkomtel sought advice on the deal from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., ING Groep NV, Nomura Holdings Inc. and Rothschild, while billionaire Solorz-Zak sought expert advice from Trigon Dom Maklerski SA, Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Agricole SA.
Solorz-Zak stated that the whole deal was financed for by Credit Agricole and Deutsche Bank AG while Societe Generale SA, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and PKO Bank Polski SA participated in funding.
Tycoon closes Polkomtel deal worth $6.5 billion (Poland)
Zygmunt Solorz-Zak is a polish media tycoon. He has closed a $6.5 billion deal as part of acquiring Polkomtel, the second-largest mobile phone operator in Poland.
The proposed deal will see the existing shareholders of Polkomtel receiving close to $5.5 billion in cash in the form of compensation for their stakes in the operator. The deal was signed on Thursday. Polkomtel is encumbered by a net debt of close to $1 billion which makes the operator’s enterprise value to $6.5 billion.
Play to offer Samsung Galaxy S II (Poland)
Play, which operates in Poland, will be launching the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone on 7 June.
The Samsung Galaxy S II is an Android smartphone. It features a 1.2 GHz dual-core SoC processor, in either Samsung’s own Exynos SoC (GT-i9100 model) or Nvidia’s Tegra 2 SoC (GT-i9103 model). It has 1 GB of RAM, a 10.8 cm (4.3 in) WVGA Super AMOLED plus display and an 8 megapixel camera with flash that can record videos in full high definition 1080p. It is one of the first devices to support Mobile High-definition Link (MHL), which allows up to 1080p uncompressed video output with HDMI while charging the device at the same time. Support for the USB On-The-Go (USB OTG) function was also specified and confirmed on this device.
The handset is offered for US$0.36 for VIP subscribers, and a top price of US$683.
T-Mobile replaces Era brand (Poland)
PTC, an operator in Poland is reportedly rebranding Era to T-Mobile. The company has already rolled out the new website, to which visitors of the original Era website are re-directed.
Rebranding will also affect around 1,000 Era shops and sales points. The switch to T-Mobile also means the launch of a new roaming offer at the price of national calls.
In addition to this T-Mobile will launch packages for internet use in the EU, with no extra charges for exceeding the data limit.
Orange Poland launches navigation on Mix plans
Orange Poland has started offering a navigation package for customers on Mix plans and prepaid cards. This new service is free of charge for the first month.
The navigation package is based on the technology Community Traffic Online, which collects and processes data on the current situation on road traffic, road works or accidents.
The service is provided in several options: for 1 week costing US$3.65, for 30 days for US$9.13, for one year for US$54.63 and for two years for US$29.30.
The package price includes the cost of GPRS transmission necessary for the functioning of the application. The service can be activated via a short code.
